Rape Culture And Feminism Rant

Hey guys! Whats up?

This is my second rant in a row, but I was reading an article about this this morning and it made me so, so angry.

Because of sexism and rape culture, girls can't do what we want to do without being controlled and shaped by society's "norms" and this isn't okay.

Let me give you some examples.

1. One of my best friends was assaulted last week at Scouts. She told the leader and the leader's response was "He was just messing about. Don't worry about it."

2. My friend's 8 year old sister, when she told her teacher at school that she wanted to be a firefighter, was told that "That's a man's job".

3. I can't walk round the corner to the local convenience store without constantly checking that I am being followed and change sides of the road whenever a middle aged man comes close, for fear of being mugged or raped.

I 'm sure that there are countless other examples I could give, but if I tried to list them all, we would be here for weeks. I know there are lots of rumours and made up information going around regarding womens' rights, but I'm here to give you solid info. I've looked into this a lot, and I'm pretty sure that everything I'm gonna tell you is 100% true.

Firstly, I'm going to give you another example. A girl got given 2 days exclusion in my school last week because she had her bra straps showing and told to go to the bathroom to remove it. She was given detention, and then argued with the teacher and demanded that it wasn't a problem, resulting in her getting isolation. Then she proceeded to take her bra off in front of her whole class, arguing that no one could see it anymore. Because of this, she was excluded.

Can we just talk about this for a moment? The school punished her for wearing underwear. And then told her to leave the lesson to remove it. Excuse me, but when the boys have their jeans hanging down below their butt because it's "trendy", I don't see you telling them to remove their boxers for goodness' sake! By making her leave the lesson, the school is teaching her that it is more important to not have a bra strap showing than to have an education. The same school that doesn't allow nail varnish or mirrors because it "interferes with learning" and "distracts pupils from their lessons". Just a tiny bit hypocritical, no? And the girl. So brave, to say the least, to stand up to her teacher like that (and may I just note that it was a MALE teacher!!!) but also because she isn't afraid to stand up for what she believes is right, which is a trait I think everyone should have. I saw this post on pinterest from twitter the other day:

"being taught that my clothes have a voice more powerful than my own & that even when I say no my clothes can say yes 4 me" - from @jociiii_ on twitter. I won't go into this, but I could not agree more.

Moving on. Someone told me the other day that they were a feminist, but didn't like to make a big fuss of it because they were afraid of what people would say. How wrong is that? They are too scared to stand up for their gender, which is 49.6% of people in the world. Half the world's population, not given fair rights because of their gender. And people like the person who told me that, who won't do anything about it because they don't want to be bullied. Does that not seem wrong to you? That is the whole point of feminism! That EVERYONE, regardless of gender, should be given equal rights and be able to say what they want to without fear of being cut down! This really isn't fair, and I want to do something about it.

Just to round this post off, I want to say something about abortion rights. I found another amazing, beautiful post on pinterest from tumblr the other day, and I just want to share this with you. 

"So if we have to show women what the baby looks like in the womb and tell them how the process works before having an abortion, does that mean we should teach our soldiers about the culture of the lands we're invading, and explain to them that the people we want to kill have families and feel pain, just like us?" - from @fairlylocaloddparents on tumblr.

I'll just give you that to think about. 

Finally, I need to say this. 

I am a feminist. I am proud. I will do whatever I can to raise awareness of this issue, and I will do anything in my power to make womens' and mens' rights equal. I am not afraid to stand up for what I believe is right.

Thanks for reading this guys. I get really passionate about topics like this :P Also on controversial rant posts like this, I am open to and welcome comments agreeing OR disagreeing with what I write, and feel free to have arguments with me or each other. I must say though, please don't say anything offensive or prejudiced. If you do I will have to report you. Very happy note to end on.

Lots of love, 

Teenage Blogger x

Question of the day: Do you believe in gender equality and equal rights?

My answer: HELL YEAH READ ABOVE

What about you? Tell me in the comments!